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Targeting Chief Tony Anenih-" Mr. Fix It"

July 17, 2007
In the early days of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the former President, his deputy, Atiku Abubakar and the erstwhile chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, were seen as inseparable triplets in the political conclave. During that time, it was somewhat inconceivable to take any decision without an agreement reached by the trio. But that is history. A political gulf began developing as soon as the former president’s scheme to rule Nigeria in perpetuity began to unfold. And in the bid to ‘demobilise’ Atiku, Obasanjo had pitched Anenih against Atiku. The former vice president was eventually edged out of the party.
 

But ambition, which caused Obasanjo and Atiku to fall apart, has once again put a wedge between Tony Anenih and Obasanjo, both of who now appear intent on neutralising one another politically. The former president had on 21 June drawn the first blood when he staged a coup which displaced Anenih as the party’s Board of Trustees chairman. Though the amended section of the party’s constitution had made Obasanjo’s assumption of the office inevitable, it was generally expected that the change in the leadership of the BOT would be effected after the national convention of the party in November. But the former president was in no mood to wait. The amended Section 12 (77) of the PDP constitution reads: "Without prejudice to the provisions of this constitution, the party will ensure that an elected chairman is: (1) either a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria produced by the party or in the absence of such; (2) a former national chairman of the party who has distinguished himself in the service of the party or; (3) a person of proven integrity who has contributed immensely to the growth of the party."

Even though many reasoned that the amendment was designed specifically for Obasanjo, the manner of Anenih’s removal raised lot of questions. The meeting of the PDP National Executive Council (NEC) had, contrary to expectation, endorsed the continuation in office of Chief Tony Anenih. This reinforced the expectation that Anenih, popularly known as Mr. ‘Fix It’, would remain in office till November. The meeting was attended by President Yar’Adua, Vice President Jonathan Goodluck, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, PDP National Chairman; Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a former BOT Chairman; and Barnabas Gemade, former National Chairman, among other party stalwarts. The meeting, held at the PDP Headquarters in Abuja, also resulted in the reconstitution of the BOT. The meeting saw the admission of new members like Senate President, David Mark; his predecessor, Ken Nnamani; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh. So were Babangida Nguroje, Deputy Speaker, and House Leader, Tunde Akogun.
Ironically, it was a BOT meeting that Anenih had scheduled for later that day that was hijacked by Obasanjo and his supporters. TheNEWS gathered that Anenih had, penultimate Monday, circulated a notice of the BOT meeting fixed for Wednesday evening, the usual time the meeting held since the board was inaugurated. But unknown to him, Ali, apparently acting at the behest of Obasanjo, had directed on Tuesday night that the meeting be held on Wednesday morning. At the controversial meeting, former Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu was elected as the new BOT Secretary. The manner he was upstaged left Anenih sulking, with his supporters grumbling that the meeting was not properly convened and that having less than 30 members at the event meant the quorum requirement was not fulfilled. Maduekwe, however, insisted that "quorum does not matter in this matter" since the party’s NEC had already approved of the meeting.
Initially, Anenih characteristically maintained his cool over the bruise. This magazine, however learnt that with pressure from some anti-Obasanjo elements within and outside the party, including those who felt Obasanjo was exerting too much influence on Yar’Adua, he decided to break his silence in a protest letter sent to governors from the South-South, his geopolitical zone. In the protest letter he personally signed, the former Minister told the governors he was not properly removed from office. Anenih, it was learnt, is also seeking the cooperation of some of the former governors from the zone who remain very influential in the party, on what he views as his unjust removal. He affirmed the need for all stakeholders in the zone to rally together and sustain his vision of a united front.
"I am writing to inform you that on June 28, 2007, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was adopted by what he called a meeting of the Board of Trustees of our great party, the PDP, as its chairman. You must by now have known what happened at the so-called meeting," he said, adding: "I am more than satisfied with what God has made me to be in life. The importance of an institution is dependent on who is heading it and not the institution itself. I have decided to be silent on the matter.
"As I am still a member of the PDP, I believe that God has a role for everybody. Once again, I want to thank you all for being there morally all these years and I hope you will continue till we get to our desired goal. In my first letter to you as governors dated 27th April 2007 , I advised all of you to work together in the interest of the people of the South-South zone and I still stand by that advice."
The protest by Anenih, however, may well be his biggest undoing. Reacting to Anenih’s complaints, National Vice-Chairman, South East of the party, Ozichukwu Chukwu told this magazine that no member of the BOT can fault the process. "There is no member of BOT who will plead alibi in the sense that the issue of constitutional amendment was very thoroughly discussed and went through due process. It passed through every stage of amendment and when it came to NEC, it was the leader himself, Chief Tony Anenih who moved the motion that the amendment be so adopted. I had thought that with the amendment, the issue of who becomes the president of the Board of Trustees was a fait accompli. I wasn’t there because I am not a member of the BOT. But even if I am in a dream and I was asked, I would have predicted it with military exactitude. Everyone saw it coming. If anybody had any objection, the person wouldn’t have waited until Obasanjo left office," Ozichukwu said, adding that Obasanjo did not impose himself on the BOT.
This magazine learnt that the former president, who sees politics as war, considers the protest letter a rebellious affront on him. Consequently, he is said to be spoiling for a bigger showdown with the Uromi high chief. Already, Obasanjo’s strategists are exploring dusting the files of contract awards during the period Anenih was Minister of Works and Housing. The Edo-born political tactician held the position between 1999 and 2003. This indication was given on July 5, when Senators fiercely loyal to Obasanjo contrived to have the upper legislative chamber adopt a motion to audit all road projects undertaken between 1999 and 2007.
Earlier, Anenih had drawn the ire of top party officials when he sponsored George Akume for the senate president job, working against David Mark who was favoured by Obasanjo and the PDP leadership. Obasanjo’s preference for Mark is believed to have resulted from the latter’s role in the failed tenure extension plot. With Mark’s eventual victory, Anenih must know he now has a formidable foe in the Senate President.

Anenih has however dismissed the claim that he is in a fix. At a three-day retreat for officials of the new government in Edo State held in Uromi, his hometown last Wednesday, Anenih described a newspaper publication alleging that he is in soup as a farce. "At Okene in Kogi State this morning, I stopped to buy fuel on my way from Abuja. I bought some newspapers. One of them amused me. The headline was ‘Anenih in soup’. I was wondering which pot can be big enough to cook me before I can become soup. At least not in Nigeria," he said derisively. Moving the motion to probe Anenih, Senator Eze regretted that a yearly average of 17,000 lives was too high a price to pay by Nigerians for the failure of governance. "It is observed that over N1 trillion was spent on road construction and rehabilitation in Nigeria in the past eight years with minimal or no impact on our roads. The collapse of the roads has virtually cut off many parts of Nigeria, with its attendant negative impact on trade and commerce. The collapse has led to a decline in agricultural activities, adversely affecting the movement of agricultural produce from rural to urban area and across the country, resulting in a slide in the country’s agricultural output and the economy," he stated.
The sponsors of the motion further prayed the upper chamber to "direct its committee on Works, when constituted to embark on audit of all road projects in Nigeria with a view to producing the raw data for further necessary legislative action, as well as liaise with the appropriate government agencies to ensure the rehabilitation or completion of all abandoned and on-going road projects across the country."


The motion received the support of virtually all the Senators that contributed. Deputy Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba charged the senior lawmakers to "look at the reasons why such huge investments in the sector have yielded no result." He also took a swipe at the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, one of the major agencies under the Ministry. "FERMA has failed because we charged them with something more than their ability. They cannot maintain roads that are totally collapsed. This is the time we should look at other sources of transportation. The pressure has been on roads because we have not developed other sources. There must be a consistent road policy that will survive many administrations."

Senator Smart Adeyemi, in his contribution said, "In Nigeria when roads are constructed, which are supposed to last for at least 30 years, within six months of construction you have potholes in them. We should look at the rate projects are awarded in Nigeria. Senator Lee Maeba added: "It is regrettable that at this time of our history, we are still talking about roads. The problem is not about design. The designs are okay but we have unpatriotic engineers around. We have so many construction companies in Nigeria more than any other country."
It is an open secret in Nigeria that while huge sums of monies are budgeted for roads and other projects, the jobs are always executed shoddily and officials often collude with the contractors to defraud the government. Most of the roads become literally impassable soon after they are constructed or rehabilitated, as the case may be.
Surprisingly, over N1 trillion has been spent on road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance since 1999. The negligence is one of the problems that signposted the government of Obasanjo. In fact, cases of abandoned projects that have been duly budgeted for, with money released, abound. According to documents released by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance, the Obasanjo administration received as its share from the Federation Account, a total of N7.43 trillion between June 1999 when it assumed power and March 2007. The allocation is believed to be the highest any administration has ever received in the country. This was made possible by a disproportionate revenue allocation formula which the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, has repeatedly said, unduly gave the FG a lion’s share of the federal allocation. In the operating revenue formula, the FG is entitled to 56 per cent allocation as against the 44 per cent for the entire 36 states and 774 local governments. Throughout the period, all attempts made by the Hamman Tukur-led RMAFC to review the formula was vehemently resisted by the former president.
During the eight years of Olusegun Obasanjo as president, there were substantial increases in the yearly national budgets. But, according to critics, most of the projects that were meant to be carried out with allocations in the budget were shoddily implemented. In many cases, the implementation of the budgets was less than 50 per cent. Indeed, the government in the last eight years has harvested huge sums of money as extra-budgetary revenue from the continuous rise in the price of oil in the global market. But matching the performance of the administration against the amount received, analysts think something must be wrong somewhere. The situation is more pronounced in some key sectors like roads, energy, water resources, education and health into which a bulk of the federal allocations were sunk with nothing to show.
As recalled by Senator Ayogu for example, the country sunk N1 trillion into the provision and maintenance of roads across the country in the last eight years. But Nigerians believe that the work on ground does not reflect the whopping sum of money appropriated and released. Indeed, the federal roads seem worse off, with vast portions turning into death traps.
Even the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo personally admitted failure in this area. During his re-election campaign in 2003, Obasanjo, speaking at a function in Ogun State, decried the state of Nigerian roads on which he claimed his administration had expended about N300 billion as at then. Today, figures from the Appropriation Acts reveal that the sector has netted in a mind boggling N673 billion from the annual budgets since 2001. The lamentation of the former president notwithstanding, the sharp contrast between the amounts expended and the sorry state of the roads leave many asking: where did all the money go? Now the senate is ready to probe these suspicious contract awards.
The deplorable state of federal roads has also attracted the concern of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Communications, Segun Adeniyi, the President noted with deep regret the pains and hardship which the many users of the bad roads have had to suffer in recent times. The President however promised to, as soon as the Ministers are sworn in, take immediate action on the rehabilitation of the very vital federal roads in the country. Government’s neglect of its responsibility on roads has inevitably led to a massive loss of lives.

Most inter-state roads have become death traps. Barely passable are the Sagamu-Benin, Onitsha-Owerri, Oyo-Ilorin, Aba-Ikot Ekpene-Uyo-Oron, Eket-Bori-Port Harcourt, Calabar-Ikom, Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene and East-West roads. The Lagos- Ibadan expressway has grossly deteriorated and claims lives daily. So also do many other federal roads in the South-South, North-East and South-East and indeed, all over the country. The implication of the poor roads on the human resource is scary, as the rate of accident in the country is believed to be one of the highest in the world.
Critics of government’s reported expenditure on road projects however opine that it is not impossible that a chunk of the sum has been distributed in kickbacks and campaign funds. The opinion cannot be discountenanced, given the brazen corruption inherent in government’s contract awards.
For example, Anenih who is known to be a big fundraiser for the PDP, as was evident in Obasanjo’s 2003 campaign, ensured that the big players in the construction industry were present when PDP bigwigs held a fund raiser in Abuja for Obasanjo’s re-election. And they donated handsomely, with the PDP making close to N1billion overnight. This was part of the financial war chest with which the party prosecuted the election. A worried journalist had asked Obasanjo how he hoped to tame the corruption monster, with giant construction firms donating to the cause of PDP and expecting government patronage in return. But displaying political naiveté, Obasanjo turned to his "Leader" on the high table and asked if the donors were not just "generous donors" who were not expecting billion naira contracts from Tony’s ministry. Anenih of course swore that they were.
The brewing crisis between Obasanjo and Anenih, some PDP sources swear, predates the dethronement of Anenih as BOT Chairman. At the thick of the quest by Obasanjo to secure a third term, Anenih was said to have shown little concern and offered little support. Anenih, who, according to sources, reasoned that Obasanjo had no reason to seek to sit tight in power, was said to have subtly campaigned against the bid. This discovery is said to have irked the former president whose appetite for avenging any wrong done to him is legendary. Yet when the going was good, Obasanjo had relied on Anenih to help him erect his own solid political structure, having risen to power on Atiku’s structure. Indeed, the former president, it was learnt, had placed his political future squarely in the hands of Anenih.
The hand of Anenih was also identified at the National Assembly in the coup that removed Dr. Chuba Okadibo as Senate president. For that, Dr. Okadigbo, it was learnt, did not forgive Anenih. The irony is that both Anenih and Okadigbo belonged to the same political platform, the PDM. If Anenih did a "beautiful" job for the president in the Senate, his move to achieve the same feat at the Lower House met with strong resistance, as the lower chamber rebuffed moves to have their youthful speaker, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba, removed. The House later passed a no confidence vote on the minister, alleging that less than 20 per cent of the money given his ministry in the 2000 Appropriation Act was utilised. A huge part of the money, the lawmakers alleged, was kept in a bank in Ibadan .
And at a meeting between the National Assembly and former Finance Minister Adamu Ciroma, Anenih was welcomed into the Senate chambers, venue of the meeting, with hisses and jeers from the lawmakers. So embarrassing was the occasion to Anenih that he had to hurriedly leave. Really contemptuous of Anenih, as part of conditions handed down to Obasanjo before the Ghali Na’Abba-led House of Representatives could drop its impeachment plans against Obasanjo was the sack of the Works Minister. Na’Abba had accused Anenih of arrogance and non-performance. Scared stiff, Obasanjo quickly dropped Anenih.

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Controversy may as well be Anenih’s other name. Allegations of corrupt practices against the Works and Housing Minister are rife in Abuja . For example, the contract for the renovation of the Eagle Square, according to the then Senate Committee on Works and Housing, was awarded to Anenih’s son for N14 million. Sources at the Works and Housing Ministry had hinted that many contracts with huge financial involvement are on a daily basis being awarded without public knowledge. Apparently worried by the increasing complaints of corrupt practices against Anenih, the former president was said to have set up a

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